Idea Advisory Service (IAS)

About IAS

CARIRI's Idea Advisory Service is an initiative to encourage innovation and to assist persons with taking their idea to market. The Danish Technological Institute who has been providing this service in Denmark for the past forty-three years has trained a team from CARIRI with varying backgrounds and capabilities to execute this service in Trinidad and Tobago. CARIRI's IAS has tailored their model to suit the needs of our economy and eventually the rest of the Caribbean.

Many great ideas are not commercialized because of a disconnect between the idea, what the market wants and how the product or service is evaluated by the market. The Idea Advisory Service seeks to close this gap by working with innovators to assess the facts and assumptions surrounding their ideas. Once proof of business has been established, there are two pathways to commercialization either via business start-ups or licensing.

Business Startups: At CARIRI, our Business Hatchery Programme is an intensive three (3) month programme that focuses on training entrepreneurs on the fundamentals of running their own business. For further information on this programme, please visit http://www.cedcariri.com/hatchery#thehatchery

Licensing: The second option of licensing enables anyone who is willing to be creative, dynamic and daring to exploit the expertise of an existing company, in terms of market experience, distribution channels and manufacturing to commercialize your ideas. You, the innovator, trade the risk associated with starting a company for royalty payment.

Benefits of IAS:-

1. Confidentially, independent and objective assessment of innovators' ideas anytime all the time;

2. Involvement of the innovator in the idea validation and commercialization process;

3. Identification and strengthening of the benefits of your idea to the target market;

4. Assessment of the novelty of your idea and advice on which intellectual property tool would be the most relevant in securing your idea;

5. Evaluation of market demand for your invention;

6. Assistance in the development of a demonstration model (pretotype) where necessary;

7. Identification and networking with potential licensees of your idea on your behalf;

8. Negotiation of a licensing agreement

Feel free to contact the IAS Team at: Tel: 299-0209 ext. 2210,2212,2662 Email:
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Submission Guidelines

Dear Innovator,

Below, find a handful of requirements your innovation must meet before we can go further with our advisory. Your innovation:

1. Must be your own

You must be the original creator of the idea submission and have the exclusive right to submit it to IAS. You agree not to upload images that belong to someone else as a part of your idea.

2. Must be original

The purpose of IAS is first and foremost to commercialize ideas. This means we’re looking for new ideas that solves a real problem. We cannot commercialize ideas/innovations that already exist. We therefore cannot offer advice on ideas / innovations that have the following properties:

• Virtually the same product is being sold already

• Current products solve the problem in a better way

• A published patent or concept already exists for the idea

• The idea is not different enough to compete in an already saturated

market

• The idea combines different existing features together without a clear

benefit

Please make sure your idea is one of a kind before submitting. Search the web for existing patents, products, and concepts.

We will not handle ideas/innovations related to the below topics. We will decide how a submission fits these standards at our discretion.

• Death, killing, blood, terrorism, or torture

• Racism, bullying, or cruelty to animals

• Contesting norms, policies, procedures, and decisions made by staff

5. Make it clear and legible

Be precise and take your time. Clear grammar and spelling are essential to our ability to understand your idea. Your submission title, description, problem, and solution text should be clearly understood. Please make sure your submission is in English.